Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Good morning crafty-desk perusing folks! I am doing my best to join in with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and actually get around to a few more than I usually do. You can link up too - find the information at Stamping Ground.

You might think that you've seen this pic before...

Yes you have, its the same as it was 3-4 weeks ago and we are still in the same boat except that we have lost our forever house and so we are looking again as well as trying to sell ours - its a horrid frustrating process but there we go.

I have been crafting in between tidying my desk though. This was a layout I did for a recent challenge that involved using white or black as the main colours, using stamping or doodling and using ribbon or washi.

Its hard to believe my two eldest nieces ever looked like this! The cutie on the left is now whipping my behind in the gym - who would have thought it at the time! There's only 18 months between them so they really are #bff.

I used some embossing paste for the first time to give something interesting to the white background and I really liked the way it turned out. Although its my often used messy stack style, the colour scheme is more unusual for me but I'm pleased with the end result.

I'm looking forward to a day of cropping on Saturday too - goodness knows I need it!

Sunday, 14 September 2014

Although I haven't been able to use my studio this week (for fear of messing things up and then someone coming to view the house!), I have been able to craft at a crop and at a friend's house. I borrowed one of Paula's magazine clippings for inspiration and created this layout using Echo Park's This and That Charming (sorry, not sure which magazine!)

The photo of my boy is blurred - I'm no photographer and so capturing excited toddlers on a dull day is beyond me! I don't mind though - its an action shot ;-)

It marked quite a big moment for me back then. I finally felt like I was doing the normal stuff that mums did with their children and actually achieving some of the things I thought parenting was all about. I suffered with post natal depression during his first year and only started to feel a bit normal (whatever that is) by the time he was 2.

I think he must have been about 2 and a half in this photo. We spent hours covering the egg box with paper and then painting it and putting it together. He was so pleased with his crocodile creation and spent ages whizzing it around and taking it for a walk. I was so proud of him too. Actually... I was proud of us.

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

It is with regret that I show you my desk this week - it is almost embarrassingly pristine. I say almost because I do have good reason for it to be untouched and that was that we were about to have a house viewing. This people, is as good as my room gets!

I have done some crafting this week though at the lovely Artful Angels crop. I started to unpack after the viewing so you can see bits of the three layouts I was working on using Echo Park. I normally get a lot more done than this but I was viewing another house and the children came to visit for lunch and before you know it the day has gone!

I can't wait till the next one because I am fearful of getting my room messed up again. Did I mention how much I hate this process!!!

I shall content myself with living vicariously through other people's busy spaces over Julia's for this week's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Wednesday, 3 September 2014

Its been a while since I joined in with WOYWW dear readers but this Wednesday marks a very important part of our year - the children go back to school today! I have such plans!! Some of my plans for this week involve getting in my studio and making some stuff - woop woop! Some of my plans involve getting my house back into some sort of order so that we are ready for house viewings at the weekend. Our house sale fell through recently after waiting since April so we have to start all over again - meh.

So what is on my table of craft after such a long time? Well... Top left is my Learn Something New Everyday book that I am determined to put something in this year. Its a class run by Shimelle every September and I made this book 3 years ago and never put anything in it. 2 years ago I changed the date on the front to start again and never put anything in it. Last year I didn't even try. I am keeping a record this year and trying to take daily photos so hopefully something will go in there at some point.

In the centre of the table I have some very exciting things!! I was picked as a winner in a Cosmo Cricket giveaway on Facebook and within about 4 days I had a parcel arrive from America! Inside was a wall sconce, 4 matching mason jar lids (I need wide necked jars now!), a sweet little pink hanger with clips on and a pad of 12x12 vellum! If you know where I can get the jars from then please do let me know (in the UK) because I would love them to go in my new studio, if / when we move!

Right, on with the cleaning. 6 weeks of summer holidays and I don't even recognise my house anymore! Don't forget to link up with Julia if you want to join in with the desk hop :-)

Saturday, 30 August 2014

Its just me and my girl here today because the boys have gone camping so we are doing our nails and getting our craft on and watching lots of girly films :-)

Miss Bella is very girly, and I don't know where she gets it from. She loves having her face painted too. This double layout was about a trip to Beaulieu near Halloween a couple of years ago.

She sat sooo still and the finished result was amazing. How can a tiger look so cute??!

I used lots of orange and harvest type colours to reflect the time of year as well as the colours in the face paints. I also used lots of textures with buttons, felt leaves, sheer ribbon and that gorgeous canvas tag.

I think I made this layout at a Christmas retreat a couple of years ago and just never got around to sharing it on the blog. I've still got others from around the same time that got missed and because things have been so hectic here with summer holidays and house sales falling through etc (don't ask) my poor old craft room hasn't seen much actual crafting!

This little girl is full of attitude and sass and definitely has some very tiger like qualities. Me and my little tiger cub are going to do a lot of snuggling up together this afternoon.

What have you got planned for this weekend? For some of you it might be last weekend before the children go back to school - is that a good or a bad thing? This summer has been a mix of good and bad but I am looking forward to getting back to some sort of routine and definitely looking forward to getting back to some regular blogging!

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

You know when you get an idea in your head and it is such a great idea that you just HAVE to do it? But then you realise the logistics of completing the task in time alongside other last minute projects, and of course normal daily life, are not actually that favourable... but you decide to do it anyway? Yep, that happened here! I wanted to make something special for Louis's teacher because she really "got him" and he has really blossomed in her care. I wanted to say a bigger thank you to her than my normal end of year projects so I decided to make her an album that she could use for her honeymoon photos and ephemera, or even her favourite moments from her wedding, which I knew to have a teal colour scheme. Sarah's S J Crafts challenge for August was to make something holiday / travel related and to use something old and something new. So with a week to go before the end of term I set about it..... ahem.....

I used an Ikea album with a snowflake on the front but I don't think its obviously a Christmas album. I added some bling and ribbon and a butterfly because I used butterflies through the album too. The chipboard butterfly shape that I used here is about 4 years old... gulp!

I secured some ribbon inside the covers concealed by patterned paper in order to hold the book closed.

Management pointed out that she might not know what to do with the book so I added this little note into a pocket for the inside front cover. Basically it says "This book is for YOUR story" and explains that she should cover up / tear out anything she wants to so that they can display and record their memories in any way they would like to remember their special time. Apparently this made the teacher cry because she was so touched!

I wanted something really special for the first page so I used the last scrap of my precious rose ribbon which was a perfect match for her teal colour scheme.

I used papers from the last 5 years and from various manufacturers and collections - it felt good to make a dent in my stash! Very old alongside very new here!

I tried to echo the papers across each double page and used similar styles throughout the album for continuity as well as using similar gems and shapes and the butterfly motif.

I also added some Project Life cards for a bit of variety and to give her somewhere to add her journalling. These are the newest things that I used because I treated myself to the Jade kit a few weeks ago. Please excuse the blob on the camera lens - it is not something on the book!!

I also created a few pages without patterned paper, just by stamping all over the page to give her lots of room to add her own touches and photos etc.

These stamps are all from Hero Arts - Stamp Your Story and are a perfect choice for layering and repeating. I made sure to spread these pages throughout the album for variety.

Here is another "something new" from the S J Crafts Challenge - a new stencil! The spotty one is new (a couple of days!) and the floral one is old (about 3 years and never been out of the packet...)

The pages in this album are approx 9x9 which is an awkward size when you are trying to do double pages with one piece of 12x12! This page design using thirds worked really well to get the most out of the papers.

I also spread some bunting throughout the album. I think it's a really pretty addition especially when it's popped up with foam tape for dimension.

I love this printed leaf effect stamp from the Hero Arts set.

I made a couple of pages with pockets for more journalling / additional photos / leaflets and memorabilia etc. You can also see the border punch that I used throughout the album for continuity.

For this page I used Distress Ink (Broken China) dabbed through a doily and then used the doily on the facing page. The book is pre-bound so you don't get a second chance to get things right but it is probably my least favourite layout.

Here is an example of the "thirds" page design flipped on its side. I think this teal paper from LilyBee's Memorandum is my favourite pattern in the entire album.

This is the centre of the album using up lots of scraps for the banner across the top. The envelopes can be used for holding whatever, but they also create another pocket behind them too.

When I've done photo-less albums before, I've put in blank photo mounts for people to add their standard sized photos in specific places. These days though with the ability to take photos on phones, create collages and crop and play around more, there needs to be more flexibility with photo sizes.

With that in mind, I deliberately kept this album free of specific photo spots so that they can add in whatever they want, wherever they want - it is their album for their story after all.

More banners and butterflies and doilies.

More pockets using some PL cards, that border punch, some grey spotted washi tape to reinforce the edges. Those spiral paper clips were a random purchase from a supermarket! It's worth keeping your eyes open in all sorts of places for fab touches these days.

Another sponged page and another envelope for bits and bobs.

More bunting - perfect for any sort of celebration I think!

I inked all the edges with the Broken China Distress Ink and I love the way it brings all the pieces together.

It also helps to link the stamped pages to the ones that used patterned papers by adding another element of continuity.

I love these little fold over cards from Project Life - not something I would use on one of my normal pages probably but they are ideal here.

I would love to see this book when it is finished and full of special moments. I really hope they enjoy looking back on it in years to come and also enjoy the process of creating a memory book of their own special story.

Finally the back pages with a spot for summing up and another little envelope full of labels and cards for them to add in her own time when and where she / they like.

So now its over to you to make something holiday or travel related for the challenge at S J Crafts! Because it is the summer holidays you have until September 6th to enter your project.

I'm just back from holidays myself and looking forward to getting some of our wonderful memories scrapped. I shall be around to lots of blogs to say hi again really soon.

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

I said a couple of weeks ago that you should never apologise for the mess on your desk - its an artistic space and the left over chaos is evidence of enjoying the creative process. It is art sediment. Having said that, I am a little bit in a state of hiding my face about my studio this week because it is chaos rather than just piles. In my defence I was making several things for teachers for the end of term and I got very carried away with one of them...

Lets take a tour shall we? The big black box and assorted jewelry items strewn about is waiting to be put away after I finished several bag charms for teacher presents (you can see those further down the post). Most of the pink stuff was used for the cards on the corner of the desk there (also further down this post). The Mod Podge and teal and turquoise items scattered about were for the thing that I got carried away on - which I will be sharing in a post in a few days (but you can see a sneak of at the end of this post). In fact you might not be able to see the teal stuff but it is there, underneath a load of other stuff!

All the embellishments that I hadn't "filed" after the last tidying session is still in my "needs putting away" corner and has been joined by everything that I initially got out for my teal project and then discarded in the second flick through - does anyone else do that? Pull loads of stuff out and then go through it again to pare it down once you've explored all your options?

And here we have proof that all this detritus did end up in something less abstract than a pile of assorted colour schemes! Three bag charms for teachers and teaching assistants.

Batch cards - 2 for teachers...

... and 4 for teaching assistants.

And this little sneak of the teal project for a very special teacher.

This time next week I will hopefully be sitting by a pool in Spain so no What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday from me for a couple of weeks. Now if someone could just pop in and tidy up my studio while I'm gone that would lovely. Thanks awfully.

Monday, 21 July 2014

I've been trawling through my archives trying to find some of the layouts that I haven't shared and I came across this one. I'm currently sat in a play centre watching Miss Bella charging around with her friends celebrating the end of her year in Reception. Its gone so fast and so has the time since she tried on this princess dress for the first time. She's not a particularly girly girl but these photos enabled me to embrace some pink and glittery goodness anyway!

The layout is several years old now and uses papers from My Mind's Eye when they first started this particular style of Lost and Found collections.

I must have got them in a sale because I bought the brads and other bits too and I don't usually pay full price for things like that! I also remember having very sparkly fingers after making and handling this layout and then transferring it onto my face causing people to wonder if I was crying! How does glitter manage to make it look like you have tears in your eyes!? And how on earth does time go so fast when you are watching little people grow up?! Answers on a post card please. (Gosh, when was the last time you heard that too!?)

Hello!

I'm a slightly obsessive mother of 2 beautiful young children and wife to a gorgeous husband of many years. I love playing with paper, I'm trying to get fit and lose weight, and I'm also battling against depression. I'm a part time writer, studying for my second degree with the Open University. Come see inside my crazy mind.... ;-)